Free Excel Help – If Statements

Microsoft Excel If functions are very useful in the flexibility and decision making aspects of your spreadsheets. It helps in generating and in testing if the data or the state of your spreadsheet is true or false. The function will carry out an action if the condition or state of your spreadsheet is true or false. If the condition is true then the function will carry out the specific task you have embedded on the function. These actions can be the execution of specific formulas, insertion of certain text or statements, or to leave the cell blank.

In order for the If function to it needs to have a comparison for it to function. The most common comparison of If function is the greater or less than values. These symbols >/< are commonly used to create expressions which mean a number is greater than a number, or vice versa. This expression can be true or false which will depend greatly on the Excel If function for the action to be done.

There are three basic parts of an If function in Microsoft Excel. These parts are the comparison function, what action will be taken if the function is true, and what action will be taken if the function is false. Also, there is a built-in wizard that could help you in making your own If function Excel. To go to the function select on Insert menu and choose Function. After, click on the Logical function from the drop-down selection. Now, click-on the If Statement and hit OK.

On the Function Arguments dialogue box, input on the Logical test box, Value if true, and Value if false your arguments or the functions for you formula. Right after inputting the IF functions, click OK. Logical test answers what you are asking. Example of a logical test question could be “Is the value in Column C greater than the value in Column D?” In the Value if true asks the question what you want to display if the answer to the question is true. In the Value of false it answers the question what you want to display if the answer is false.

To create IF statements the arguments must be separated by commas, an example would be =IF(A1>B2,”yes”,”no”) formula and place it on the C3 cell. This means that IF the value of A1 is greater than that of the value of B2 the C3 cell will show a yes answer and if the result is opposite the answer on the cell would be no. Remember that if you want the text to be displayed on the cell you must include the text with the quotation marks on the formula itself. On the other hand, if you will be using numbers then you do not have to enclose it with quotation marks.

You can also use the Microsoft Excel If functions, statements in assessing your workers performances, such as in deciding whether to fire them or give them a raise. You can enclose on the quotation marks, such as the one above with the words fired or raise. There are definitely numerous ways to make use of IF statements.

You can also repeat the IF statements or formula on the rest of the rows or columns. If the IF statement is on the C2 cell then all you have to do is to point on the C2 cell on its corner. Wait until a black cross appears and then drag it down or right to left, depending on the cells you want to contain the same arguments or statements. Also, you can do the simpler way such as point on the corner of the cell and double click to have the same statements on the succeeding columns. Likewise, if you are to update the first or source cell of the statement you can do that and do the same process to have an update on all the cells.

The IF function or statements can be useful in Excel 2000, Excel 2003, Excel 2004, Excel 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011. Also, the maximum IF function varies by version of Excel, it can be nested on the arguments for it to elaborately create and construct tests. If you are planning or aiming to do more than a dozen If statements you can consider using LOOKHUP, VLOOKUP, and HLOOKUP functions just to simplify things or you could embed more. And if this article was not enough to complete your needs, there are additional articles on this material for you to read and view, or if you need actual Excel consultant help, please call Christopher in the corporate office for a free consultation and estimate. The corporate office is located in the Irvine area of Orange County California which covers Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, and Brea to mention a few of the more industrialized areas of Orange County And if you are out of the area, say San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Oakland, or San Diego California, pr Dallas, Florida, New York, no worries we have developer offices in your area that can help you, either remotely or onsite.